Please see all of my reviews on my blog at www.robinlovesreading.blogspot.com

Lucy, in addition to being a busy mom of four, and an occasional freelance feature writer for the local newspaper, is now a member of the board of directors at the town's library. She is one of seven directors, and imagine her horror, on the very first day of her new duties, when the librarian, Bitsy Howell is murdered. The detective on the case, Lieutenant Horowitz, is certain that one of the directors is responsible for Bitsy's death. She met Hororwitz before and as he knows of her propensity to get involved, he strictly warns her to leave things to the police.

Over the past few years, several cases have arisen involving the gruesome act of murder, and Lucy was right in the thick of things with the very intent of solving them, which she did admirably. Things will be no different this time - she will not wait around for the police. She intends on finding the murderer as soon as possible, despite being commanded by the detective to stay out of it.

Per usual Lucy Stone style, Lucy knows just who to talk to and just what questions to ask. She is superb when it comes to digging to the bottom of matters. All the while playing sleuth, she is living a real life with relationships and situations that cannot be ignored. I especially love her role as a mother - it brings to much to an already well-written story and series.

However, I want to mention two things that kept me from giving this more than four stars. For one thing, the parents were quite lax with their computer and there was no internet safety for their children. Also, while running to the store, she left her four-year-old Zoe in the car in order to avoid an argument over what the little one might want her to buy. (Actually, she left Zoe in the car alone one other time come to think of it.) While the story may be set in small-town Maine, real dangers (well, fictionalized, but real, you know?) do exist and I feel that these matters weren't handled right. Also, a small thing irritated me - ten-year-old Sarah is in the 3rd grade? Hopefully just an editing error.


As with all connected series and books, familiar characters are back. We don't see as much as one of my favorites in this book, however, Barney Culpepper, but with 24 books in this series, I do hope to see him more. Ms. Tilley remains as cantankerous as ever, but I still feel a bit of patience for her. Bill, Lucy's husband, is growing on me. Then, of course, there is the mystery of the murder. It is handled well and efficiently, with enough twists and turns to keep the story at a fast pace. With only a handful of suspects, it was great fun trying to pinpoint the murderer. For an enjoyable and quick read for lovers of cozy mysteries, even with the problems in the story, be sure to pick up this next installment in the series. I am looking forward to reading Christmas Cookie Murder next.

Please see all of my reviews on my blog at www.robinlovesreading.blogspot.com

Lucy, in addition to being a busy mom of four, and an occasional freelance feature writer for the local newspaper, is now a member of the board of directors at the town's library. She is one of seven directors, and imagine her horror, on the very first day of her new duties, when the librarian, Bitsy Howell is murdered. The detective on the case, Lieutenant Horowitz, is certain that one of the directors is responsible for Bitsy's death. She met Hororwitz before and as he knows of her propensity to get involved, he strictly warns her to leave things to the police.

Over the past few years, several cases have arisen involving the gruesome act of murder, and Lucy was right in the thick of things with the very intent of solving them, which she did admirably. Things will be no different this time - she will not wait around for the police. She intends on finding the murderer as soon as possible, despite being commanded by the detective to stay out of it.

Per usual Lucy Stone style, Lucy knows just who to talk to and just what questions to ask. She is superb when it comes to digging to the bottom of matters. All the while playing sleuth, she is living a real life with relationships and situations that cannot be ignored. I especially love her role as a mother - it brings to much to an already well-written story and series.

However, I want to mention two things that kept me from giving this more than four stars. For one thing, the parents were quite lax with their computer and there was no internet safety for their children. Also, while running to the store, she left her four-year-old Zoe in the car in order to avoid an argument over what the little one might want her to buy. (Actually, she left Zoe in the car alone one other time come to think of it.) While the story may be set in small-town Maine, real dangers (well, fictionalized, but real, you know?) do exist and I feel that these matters weren't handled right. Also, a small thing irritated me - ten-year-old Sarah is in the 3rd grade? Hopefully just an editing error.


As with all connected series and books, familiar characters are back. We don't see as much as one of my favorites in this book, however, Barney Culpepper, but with 24 books in this series, I do hope to see him more. Ms. Tilley remains as cantankerous as ever, but I still feel a bit of patience for her. Bill, Lucy's husband, is growing on me. Then, of course, there is the mystery of the murder. It is handled well and efficiently, with enough twists and turns to keep the story at a fast pace. With only a handful of suspects, it was great fun trying to pinpoint the murderer. For an enjoyable and quick read for lovers of cozy mysteries, even with the problems in the story, be sure to pick up this next installment in the series. I am looking forward to reading Christmas Cookie Murder next.

Deeply, Desperately
by Heather Webber
Book 2 of Lucy Valentine

This second installment of the Lucy Valentine series wasn't as great as the first book, but still extremely enjoyable.

A lot of things happen, and I think the book carries four different mysteries/story tangents.  Between that and the rushed ending, I think my enjoyment of the book in comparison with the first might have been influenced.  I'm not saying it was a bad book, because it wasn't--far from that.

The characters are great, the love line is sweet, and the separate mysteries were actually quite twisty and well-thought out.  There was a slight modicum of predictability, but overall, I think all the story lines were handled quite well.

I only had a few frustrated quibbles, which include Detective Aiden Holliday and the police force's incompetence in dealing with the case of the missing woman.  I get that the final case-breaking point was truly thanks to Lucy's psychic radar.  What I don't understand was how Lucy was the only person who saw the single, most biggest time discrepancy of evidence used against the missing woman's husband, which could have gone a long way to help prove that he wasn't abusive towards his wife or children.  It's something that could have been either proved or disproved easily if someone had bothered to do the investigation properly.

Instead, Lucy figures it out from a sheet of paper that manages to float out of the case file folder.

I was also a little taken aback by the appearance of a potential K-drama trope: that of the "my ex-girlfriend is sick and therefore I need to be by her side" persuasion.  This situation is one I'm familiar with, having seen it in many various Hong Kong dramas and Korean dramas.  It's so widely used to create romantic angst that if not done properly could potentially become a little comical or frustrating--done correctly, it DOES create the desired effect.  At this point, I'm still a little bit conflicted as to how I feel about seeing this plot device used, yet at the same time, I can see the reason behind it's use and how the desired effect on a few different levels was achieved.

Still...

My next complaint is about the reporter, Preston Bailey.  I kind of get the whole "annoying like a sibling" relationship she's developing with Lucy, but at the same time, I'm sorry to say that Preston had more than enough moments where she was just plain annoying, rather than endearingly sibling-like annoying.  I have siblings--I know the difference.

Finally, on the romance front, things are steaming up for Lucy and Sean.  And to be honest, the intimacy level was a bit more detailed than I had expected from a cozy mystery, but not to the point of blushing or fanning myself.  So rest assured if you're not one to prefer more sensually detailed sexy times--everything is still fairly closed-door with some exceptions.

Sexy times aside, the love line is really just plain sweetness and hot chemistry.  Due to reasons, Sean and Lucy had less interaction in this book than the previous, so the relative quick pacing of their romantic progress was only a little surprising.  Despite loving my immediate results, being a romance fan and all, I was actually expecting more of a slow, slow burn over the course of the series as opposed to what we got in Lucy Valentine.  But I'm not really complaining.

Not really.

All-in-all, Deeply Desperately had a whole lot of story going on crammed into a surprisingly short length for all the story it had.  At the same time, however, I still really liked it, continue to like the characters, and am looking forward to the next book.


***

2016 Reading Challenges:
• Goodreads Reading Challenge
• BookLikes Reading Challenge

 

Truly, Madly

by Heather Webber
Book 1 of Lucy Valentine

 

 

Truly, Madly is an extremely enjoyable start to a cute cozy mystery series.  I loved all the characters, and while I typically don't have any good feelings about the male love interests, Sean Donahue actually turned out quite charming.  Lucy Valentine is an interesting character with an interesting psychic ability, and while I thought the way in which her secret was revealed to the world was a little too comical for my liking, I like the direction the entire series is taking.

Lucy is a great main character to follow and I enjoy her resourcefulness and her determination.  I also feel I like her reasons behind why she would readily take over her father's business even without the requisite aura-seeing abilities.  I like seeing the more vulnerable side of her she shows, admitting how she really feels about not having those aura-seeing abilities, and instead has a psychic ability that can only find inanimate objects belonging to people who are actually thinking about said inanimate object.

This shows in those moments when she truly feels her abilities are useless to help find the lost little boy because she cannot find actual living beings.

Anyway...

Lucy's parents were just strange, and I might have some issue with how they kind of just skip town.   The other characters introduced also have a lot of potential for great things in future installments: Lucy's two best friends, Marisol and Emerson; Detective Aiden Holliday; Butch, the not quite butcher who looks like Matt Damon; Dovie, Lucy's paternal grandmother; Raphael, the driver; and many, many more.  I like a good series with a lot of great characters to play off of!

I'd love to see more of all of these characters, because they were quite glossed over.  You get to meet them, but you don't really get to know them yet, and I'd love to get to know all of these characters.

And there were animals!  I love a good story with lots of animals, and there are three: Odysseus, the one eye'd hamster; Grendel, the three-legged cat; and Thoreau, the tiny three-pound Yorkie.  The use of literary figures to name their pets felt a little pretentious, but I'll ignore that, because who am I to question what you name your pets, right?   But Lucy's penchant for doing difficult math problems when she's nervous felt a little awkward, if only because I'd probably only stress myself out trying to figure out long division. Because I don't like math.

The murder mystery was serviceable, if a little predictable. So I'm not complaining.  In fact, I liked the side tangent of Lucy finding the Little Boy Lost more than I liked the murder mystery.

I will definitely be reading more from this series and maybe even more from this author as well.


***

2016 Reading Challenges:
• Goodreads Reading Challenge
• BookLikes Reading Challenge
• Bookish Resolutions Challenge
• 2016 Halloween Bingo

 

 

 

MT took me on a belated weekend away for my birthday, to the Alpine National Park in northern Victoria.  It's my first time in Victoria's proper mountains and it was absolutely beautiful (pictures may be forthcoming).  

 

A stop in Bright for lunch out last day (at a brewery MT was keen to try) was ever-so-conveniently just a few shops down from a bookstore - a small, but well-curated bookstore and I finally caved and picked up The Dressmaker by Rosalie Ham.  I haven't seen the movie yet but I want to, so I'm going to read the book first so I can yell at the screen about how they've gotten it all wrong.

 

As I was buying The Dressmaker, I asked about used bookshops in the area and I was directed to one right around the corner.  I almost missed it - I think my bathroom might be in a bigger space.  But she had a fabulous collection of books; again, really well curated to focus on fiction (Bright is ski-resort territory).  I picked up two Folio Society editions of Nancy Mitford's works: Love In A Cold Climate and The Pursuit of Love.  She had quite a selection of Georgette Heyers too but I can never remember which titles are good and which are... less good, so I settled on the only hardcover one she had: Pistols For Two.  I figured short stories gave me better odds that there would be a few good ones.

 

The last four are from the weekly post.  Two of them: Undeniably Yours: A Lucy Valentine Novel and Lethal Black Dress are the last books in series I've loved, each independently published by the author after their contracts with mainstream pubs weren't renewed.  The last two are Henery Press offerings - Henery Press hasn't given me a bad read yet, so I was willing to give these a go.

 

New books: 8

Read books: 3 (not counting re-reads)

Physical TBR pile: 207